Edible fungi, commonly known as mushrooms, are widely grown throughout the world as a foodstuff. The most commonly grown species in the United States is Agaricus bisporus. In the United States alone, hundreds of millions of pounds of this mushroom are produced and eaten annually.
As is the case with any cash agricultural crop, the primary aim is to produce a good quality product in the shortest amount of time with a minimum capital expenditure. Consequently, it is a common object of mushroom growing innovations to increase the quantity of mushrooms produced within a given time period and a given growing area. Attempts to reach these objects have involved altering the environmental conditions in which the mushrooms are grown, improved methods to increase the viability of the mushroom mycelia themselves and by adding various nutrients to the growth medium.
Various United States patents have issued regarding methods of adding nutrients and/or synthetic composts to mushroom cultures with the object of improving growth characteristics. U.S. Reissue Pat. No. 22,202, reissued to B. Stoller: U.S. Pat. No. 3,560,190 issued to D. Hughes, et al; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,942,969, issued to A. Carroll, Jr., et al. all relate to the addition of specific additives to either the mushroom spawn or to the compost bed in which the mushroom mycelia are grown. In each case the additives and processes involved are intended to increase the total production of mushrooms and/or decrease the period of time necessary to grow the mushrooms under given conditions.
Scientific articles and publications have also described and treated mushroom growth enhancement and activation methods. These articles include "Stimulation of Yield in the Cultivated Mushroom via Vegetable Oils" L. C. Schisler, APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY, July, 1967, pages 844-850; "The Lipids of Thermophilic Fungi: Lipid Composition Comparisons Between Thermophilic and Mesophilic Fungi" R. O. Mumma, et al, LIPIDS, January, 1970, Volume 5, no. 1, pages 100-103; "Thermophilic Fungi: II." R. O. Mumma, et al, LIPIDS, Vol. 6, no. 6, pages 584-588 (1971); "Thermophilic Fungi: III." R. O. Mumma, et al, LIPIDS, Volume 6, no. 8, pages 589-594 (1971); a masters thesis entitled "Studies on Lipid Metabolism of Agaricus Bisporus (lange) sing. and Compost Lipid Composition" by David E. Smith, Ohio State University (1975); a masters thesis entitled "Effects of Sodium Acetate on Spawn Growth" by Douglas Lehrian, Pennsylvania State University (1975), and "Lipid Metabolism of Mushroom Mycelia" R. Barry Holtz & David E. Smith, MUSHROOM SCIENCE 10, PART I, pages 437-444 (1979).
Various additives and nutrients produced under the prior art have resulted in increased yield and shortened growing time of commercial mushrooms. However, further room for improvement remains in these areas.
A nutrient or other additive which increases the yield of mushroom fruit per given area or shortens the period for a crop to reach fruition is of great commercial value to the mushroom grower. Since mushrooms are grown continuously under artificial conditions they are not subject to climatic variations and may be grown year-round. Thus, a shortening of the time necessary to reach fruition will allow the growing of a greater number of crops per year and effectively increase the production of mushrooms per given area.